Immerse yourself in the worldly, ironic, and deeply humane fiction of W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965), one of the most widely read British authors of the twentieth century and a supreme storyteller whose work spans novels, short stories, and plays. Maugham wrote with a cool, clear-eyed intelligence about human passion, artistic obsession, colonial life, and the eternal search for meaning — drawing on his extraordinary travels across Asia, the Pacific, and beyond. His essential novels include Of Human Bondage, his semi-autobiographical masterpiece; The Razor's Edge, a profound exploration of spiritual seeking; The Moon and Sixpence, inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin; Cakes and Ale; and The Painted Veil. His short stories are among the finest in the English language.